


inbrünstig.

by Anna_Hopkins



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Humor, M/M, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, POV Multiple, POV Outsider, Same-Age AU, Timeline Mashup, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29450184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna_Hopkins/pseuds/Anna_Hopkins
Summary: It started a week into February, when Tom Riddle turned to his friend Lucius in the library and said, "I've just had the best idea."Lucius forced himself not to cringe. There wasno way in hellthe next words out of Tom's mouth would be a good idea."I'm going to send Potter a Valentine."And there it was.When Slytherin Head Boy Tom Riddle decides to send a Valentine to his rival Harry, he means it as a prank - and expects the Gryffindor to fling it away and set it on fire.He doesn't expect Harry to blush from his head to his toes. And hereallydoesn't expect the thought thathe's cuteto cross his mind right after.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Tom Riddle, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Comments: 32
Kudos: 727





	inbrünstig.

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of Valentine's Day fluff that I thought up in the middle of the night (thanks, insomnia) and couldn't leave unposted before the end of the day. Enjoy!

It started a week into February, when Tom Riddle turned to his friend Lucius in the library and said, "I've just had the best idea."

Lucius forced himself not to cringe. There was  _ no way in hell  _ the next words out of Tom's mouth would be a good idea.

"I'm going to send Potter a Valentine."

And there it was.

"..Okay?" Lucius managed, eventually.

"Help me write something sufficiently embarrassing," Tom demanded, slapping parchment down on top of their Charms essays.

"Milord," Lucius said, fighting a grimace, "what kind of Valentine do you intend this to be?"

Tom looked at him, quizzical, the unspoken  _ what do you mean? _ hanging in the air between them. "A heartfelt one, of course," he said, like that made it any clearer.

"Do you - do you  _ like  _ him?" Lucius really hoped the faint bit of hope coloring his tone at the end there didn't reach Tom's ears.

"What? Of course not," the Heir of Slytherin's brows knit together, confused. "It's supposed to be  _ embarrassing, _ Lucius, a truthful poem would just be hatemail. He gets that all the time."

_ You're not supposed to read his mail, _ Lucius thought, but thankfully he'd averted his eyes to the parchment before Tom read that thought out of his head. Aloud, he said, "Well, there's sappy poems, and friendly poems, and lovestruck poems, and lewd poems-"

"Merlin, are there really," Tom looked utterly disgusted by the idea.

Which of course was Lucius' cue to ramble - "Oh, yes, there's plenty of it in the classics, the works of Sappho, of Catullus, several passages from the Greek epics, more recently there's excerpts from Grindelwald's letters to D-"

Tom waved him off. "I did  _ not  _ need to know that," he said firmly. "Now, I was thinking something like 'eyes as green as a fresh-picked toad'-"

This was going to be the longest week of Lucius' life.

Let it never be said that Tom Riddle does not do his research. (Not that anybody would say that - man's worked his way through half the library by this point in his Hogwarts career, and most of that half was the Restricted Section.) Lucius sat on the sidelines of the Common Room and just watched as the pile of books stacked higher and higher, and traded off with Abraxas, Walburga, Orion, and Regulus to answer their lord's questions on romance as the days went by.

The scroll full of drafts for the Valentine's card got longer and longer as the days dragged on; for a while, they feared that it would never be done at all, with how often Tom got distracted by a turn of phrase or particular bit of symbolism and started over.

But on the last day of the week, as the sun set, Tom stood up from his work table and announced to them all that he had done it - and held up a small slip of parchment, torn from the rest of the scroll, as if he expected them to applaud.

(So they did.)

"What does it say?" wondered Barty, squinting at the parchment.

"Precisely what is needed," Tom proclaimed, very seriously. "I will have it sent at breakfast."

And he left, the quizzical looks exchanged between his followers left unacknowledged.

Tom had spent the past week assembling the most uncomfortably intense,  _ obsessive  _ Valentine that had ever been written, poring over dozens of ancient books on love myths both magical and Muggle for inspiration. It was a masterpiece of complete  _ creep, _ just a glimpse of which made him shudder.

In other words, it was perfect.

His stomach fluttered with anticipation as the Great Hall filled with students. Potter would be arriving any minute now for breakfast, just before the owl post flew in; in the tumult, Nagini would slither across the Hall to deliver his letter, which he'd tied with pink ribbon -  _ pink! _ \- around her neck.

Tom steepled his fingers over his plate, watching. Waiting.

And there he was: the Golden Boy himself, strolling in with his Gryffindor posse. Harry James Potter, Tom's most bitter rival for their entire Hogwarts careers. This would be just the scene Tom needed to cement his standing above Potter once and for all.

He wondered if the letter would make the other boy as nauseous as it made him.

_ "Go, Nagini," _ he hissed as the sound of hundreds of owls' wings reached the Great Hall.

Lucius watched the letter-bearing snake slither across the Great Hall, not even bothering with his breakfast; he was too keyed up for the inevitable spectacle about to unfold the moment Potter read whatever it was that Tom had sent him. He was not the only one: the entire House had heard about Tom's quest, by now, and the news had even spread to the Ravenclaws, last he'd heard.  _ Tom Riddle is writing Harry Potter a Valentine, _ the rumors said.

("Bet they'll duel it out right at breakfast?" one sixth-year had murmured to another in the hallway.

"Ten Galleons he doesn't even use magic and just decks him," the other giggled.)

So it was like half the Great Hall was holding their breath as Tom's familiar slithered up onto the table, pink-ribboned letter flapping against cups and plates as she went. Several Gryffindors jumped out of their chairs, startled by the snake's appearance; still others trained their wands on it, spells at the ready. Potter was stacking his usual pile of valentines next to his plate - he hadn't noticed yet.

Walburga clasped Orion's hand under the table. "Here we go," she muttered, having given up on glancing to just stare straight at the Gryffindors. Orion's wince and the low whine he was producing indicated his hand was being crushed.

Nagini reached Potter's plate, coiled up, and reared back, neck swaying, in front of him. Granger tapped Potter on the shoulder, and he turned, and his eyebrows rose. For a long moment, he just  _ stared _ at the letter-carrier, expression unreadable, before careful hands untied the ribbon to set the letter free.

(He always was good with animals.)

"Oooo," Walburga squealed. Orion was trying to pull his hand out of her grasp now, features gone tight with pain in the face of his betrothed’s enthusiasm.

Narcissa brushed the side of her hand on Lucius', the only indicator she felt the same.

Potter stared at the seal on the envelope - even from here, Lucius could see it was the skull-and-snake that Tom so favored. But he didn't look in their direction; instead, while his friends looked on, Gryffindor's Golden Boy broke the seal and took the valentine out of the envelope.

He read it over.

Brought a hand up to his mouth.

And blushed a bright red nearly as vivid as his House colors.

So distracted was the rest of Slytherin by the happenings at the lions' table, nobody was watching Tom when Potter read his valentine. For his part, Tom was waiting for the minute Potter flung the letter to the floor and set it on fire - maybe he'd even challenge him to a duel.

He was  _ not _ expecting Potter to react like _ that. _

And he  _ definitely  _ didn't expect his first thought when Potter turned to look at him to be,  _ that's a fetching look on his handsome face. _

Tom stared back, because of course he did, he was  _ himself,  _ but his inner monologue was a mess: why was that the first thought in his head? He didn't fancy Potter! But it wasn't an untrue observation-

Potter stood up from the Gryffindor table and strode across the Great Hall, pace even, steady. Tom wondered if the boy was about to slap him, hat would be excellent fodder to tease him about later - but no. Potter stopped in front of Tom's seat, and Tom turned around. Everyone around them seemed to be watching, intently.

"Riddle," Potter said, quiet. "Did you mean that?"

Meant - the contents of the valentine? "Is that not the point of sending one?" Tom raised an eyebrow.

Potter, predictably, rolled his eyes. "Cheeky bastard," he snarked-

And kissed him.

The Great Hall erupted in cheers from everyone who'd known about it - and a few who hadn't. Money was changing hands, people where shouting, clapping, stomping their feet, laughing-

And Potter was  _ still  _ kissing Tom, saw Lucius, aghast. He'd leaned in, pressing the Slytherin back against their House table, and was carding fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, and Tom was - reciprocating, Merlin, it wasn't a  _ competition  _ (was it?), with an arm coiling around Potter's waist - they were staring each other in the eyes like it was a challenge, but Lucius thought it was better described as hunger.

Lucius looked up at the Head Table and saw several of the teachers descending to disrupt the scene. That was probably a good idea, because it didn't look like either seventh-year was going to stop-

Potter broke the kiss, and  _ hissed  _ something at Tom, and Lucius was not the only one whose eyes widened comically at the use of the _ famously rare language  _ where Potter hadn't ever demonstrated such ability before. It was Tom's turn to blush, and he let Potter take his hand and lead him out of the Hall just before the teachers got to their table.

Amidst the chaos, Lucius came to one very important conclusion:

Neither boy was going to be seen in the castle for the rest of the day.

**Author's Note:**

>  _inbrünstig_ : the German word for "fervent", also "vehement". _having or displaying a passionate intensity._


End file.
